Boston Celtics
Brown completed with a game-high 32 factors, however he wanted 10-for-28 capturing to perform it after beginning 3-for-12 within the first half.
Jaylen Brown flirted with a triple-double and Payton Pritchard continued his torrid run off the bench because the Celtics walloped the Lakers in Los Angeles on Sunday, pulling away within the second half for a cushty 111-89 win.
Listed here are the takeaways.
Payton Pritchard is dominating off the bench
A lot has been made from the Lakers’ struggles towards groups with successful information — they are 5-11 towards groups with top-10 level differentials after Sunday’s loss — however the Lakers are particularly troubled by groups just like the Celtics, who’ve a number of gamers able to dominating a 1-on-1 matchup.
On Sunday, Jaylen Brown (who we’ll get to shortly) was comparatively inefficient as a shooter, regardless of being the sport’s high scorer.
As a substitute, the Celtics relied closely on Pritchard, whose return to the bench has — whether or not coincidentally or not — been mirrored in a completely ridiculous run throughout which he has averaged 23.5 factors per recreation whereas the Celtics received six of seven video games.
Sunday’s recreation was the very best of that run so far — a 30-point masterpiece towards the Celtics’ historic rivals. Pritchard made a lot of memorable photographs, together with a bail-out heave from the brand, a mid-range jumper after dropping Jarred Vanderbilt to the bottom with a nasty crossover, yet one more shot to beat the halftime buzzer, and — maybe most memorably — a stepback 3-pointer that put the nail in an already well-built Lakers coffin for the night, which left Jayson Tatum chuckling in amusement on the sideline. After Pritchard buried the dagger, he went skipping again up the sideline, barking at NBC commentator Reggie Miller as he went.
The Lakers are notably susceptible to outbursts like Pritchard’s — he excels when he can assault a weak defender 1-on-1, and Luka Doncic, Jake LaRavia and Austin Reaves had been all victims of Pritchard’s explicit model of offense.
Pritchard is, after all, a beginning high quality participant on most NBA groups. That he’s content material coming off the bench for the Celtics speaks extremely of each his maturity as a participant and the Celtics’ challenge as a complete, the place a participant of Pritchard’s monumental high quality is aware of that by sacrificing a small quantity of pleasure, he could be part of a workforce that may do massive issues within the postseason.
Jaylen Brown was inefficient however wonderful
Brown completed with a game-high 32 factors, however he wanted 10-for-28 capturing to perform it after beginning 3-for-12 within the first half, and he turned the ball over 5 occasions.
So why was he nonetheless a notably constructive pressure? A number of causes.
First, Brown was aggressive attending to the rim to attract fouls, and he was rewarded so usually — 9-for-12 from the road for the sport — that the Lakers spent a lot of the sport complaining to the officers concerning the calls.
Second, Brown was aggressive defensively, selecting off three steals within the first half alone, all of which resulted in quick breaks. Brown appears to be hyper locked in at any time when the Celtics play towards Luka Doncic, and Sunday was no exception.
Third, Brown dished out seven very distinct assists — a kick to the nook for a no-dip Baylor Scheierman 3-pointer, a pick-and-roll dish to Neemias Queta, a full-speed dump off to Scheierman in transition, and a few garden-variety move-the-ball-along assists to shooters for 3-pointers.
Lastly, like Pritchard, Brown is a lethal participant when he can assault 1-on-1, and the Lakers supply a lot of targets everywhere in the flooring.
Add all that up, and Brown had the sort of 32-point recreation superstars pile up over the course of the 12 months — largely forgettable, however undeniably constructive and really productive in a cushty win.
Brown and LeBron James are okay
LeBron James appears to be very fraternal with Jayson Tatum — a video emerged of the duo teamed up on a golf course over the All-Star break, they usually have interacted publicly quite a few occasions.
James and Brown don’t seem to have an identical relationship. After the sport, nonetheless, James was asked about Brown, and the Lakers star provided a number of unqualified reward, saying that Brown is being missed as an MVP candidate and that the duo had been going to be “superb,” even after Brown was caught by lip readers expressing doubt that James’ son Bronny can be an NBA participant.
“Our relationship has been fairly respectful,” James mentioned with a smile of Brown following Boston’s 111-89 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday. “In addition to the s–t he mentioned about Bronny at Summer time League. However apart from that, we’ve been alright.”
James referenced Brown’s submit on social media after the incident, by which Brown known as it a “flex” to have your son within the league, lauding James’ longevity.
“Bronny has all of the instruments round him to achieve success,” Brown wrote on the time. “I look ahead to watching his progress.”
On Sunday, nonetheless smiling barely, James conceded that his son nonetheless has “an extended technique to go.”
Nikola Vucevic continues to be coming off the bench
Notably, the Celtics gave Neemias Queta nearly all of the middle minutes by a small quantity — 25 minutes to Vucevic’s 20, whereas Luka Garza performed just below two minutes in rubbish time.
Queta performed properly and posted a few ridiculous highlights, together with this block on James in transition.
Vucevic, in the meantime, seemed nice offensively in his restricted time, ducking and weaving round within the Celtics’ offense. He instantly appears to know his function, which is to be a screen-setter in the beginning, and to then use his subsequent motion after setting the display to place himself ready the place he may doubtlessly rating. The Celtics haven’t had a participant who can flash to the center as successfully as Vucevic since Al Horford was youthful and a bit of extra cell, they usually haven’t had a participant together with his arsenal of floaters and push photographs.
Vucevic might have gotten a barely shorter finish of the stick towards the Lakers given Doncic’s capability to torture massive males who aren’t cell aspect to aspect, or it merely may need been a quirk of the schedule. Regardless of the case, Vucevic was actually good as soon as once more — 9 factors on 4-for-6 capturing to go along with eight rebounds. One among Brad Stevens’ greatest qualities as a GM appears to be his capability to seize a participant who, looking back, seems like a no brainer acquisition, however whom everybody else missed for some cause.
Luka Doncic appears horrible towards the Celtics
Doncic is averaging a staggering 33 factors, 7.8 rebounds, and eight.6 assists per recreation this season. In video games when Doncic scores 30 or extra factors, the Lakers are 21-9. He flutters across the 2-4 vary on the NBA.com MVP ladder. He’s, by each definition of the phrase, a famous person.
And but, if you’re a Celtics fan, you is likely to be excused for having a really completely different opinion of Doncic, as a result of no matter he does towards the remainder of the league merely doesn’t translate towards the Celtics. The Celtics have too many good defenders, and too many offensive weapons who can flip Doncic’s traffic-cone type of protection into a complete offensive recreation plan.
For years, the Celtics used Al Horford to drag an identical trick towards Joel Embiid, carrying the Sixers star down till he was hoisting inefficient 3s by the top of the sport.
Doncic, like Embiid, is a famous person, however the Celtics have persistently proven how the most important holes in his recreation could be exploited time and again.
Marcus Sensible’s issues seemed acquainted
Seeing Marcus Sensible on the Lakers is jarring, particularly when he takes on the problem of defending Brown with all of the defensive pomp and circumstance that’s such an integral a part of the Marcus Sensible expertise.
Maybe equally jarring is watching the Celtics make use of the identical defensive gameplan towards Sensible that groups employed towards them for years: Dare him to shoot, as a result of he dares to shoot, however you additionally know he most likely shouldn’t.
Sensible was 0-for-7 from the sphere and 0-for-5 from behind the arc. Out of respect for a Celtics legend and seemingly one of many NBA’s kinder souls, we now have no additional remark right here.
The Celtics may nonetheless be a 40-20 workforce
Phil Jackson famously as soon as mentioned that to be thought-about really elite, NBA groups wanted to win 40 video games earlier than they misplaced 20.
The Celtics had been completely positioned to be an exception to that rule, since that they had the potential to convey Jayson Tatum again halfway via the season and develop into elite after falling out of 40-20 competition.
Now, nonetheless, the Celtics have an opportunity to realize that lofty mark earlier than Tatum even returns — they’re 37-19 after Sunday’s win.
Getting there, nonetheless, will probably be very arduous: They face a highway back-to-back towards the Suns and Nuggets on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.
In the event that they battle via these two opponents unscathed, they will accomplish 40 earlier than 20 by beating the Nets on Friday (which will probably be their fourth recreation in six days).
Get the most recent Boston sports activities information
Obtain updates in your favourite Boston groups, straight from our newsroom to your inbox.
